


Demons of the Shadows

by Drakenn



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, BAMF Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto), BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Cybernetics, Good Orochimaru (Naruto), Good Uchiha Sasuke, Namikaze Minato Lives, Psychological Torture, Team as Family, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:55:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22092184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drakenn/pseuds/Drakenn
Summary: The world evolved and with it the ninja, in the ancient times they were limited to simple weapons and chakra. Then technology became more advanced and with it the ninja changed. Gone were warriors that only wielded kunai and chakra, they were replaced by ones wielding cybernetic augments. Augments that led to the rise of the five great villages that since then rule in their countries and shape the world.This is a story of one of the ninja, Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime Hokage and the rising star of Konoha.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	Demons of the Shadows

A sudden gust of wind blew past, sending droplets of rain and leaves clattering against the glass of the floor to ceiling window disturbing the quiet and comfort of the office. Orochimaru looked up from the report he was reading, the gaze of his snake-like eyes drawn for a brief second by the weather outside.

Autumn in Konoha was a dull, miserable period. Even inside of the buildings of its ninja corps and clans. The wind, the rain and the lack of sun sucked out the life from everybody and everything. Even the most seasoned ninja seemed sluggish and slow compared to the more welcoming parts of the year.

“Something wrong, Orochimaru?” Voice of Tsunade got the attention of Orochimaru and he gently shook his head.

“Just the weather,” he said, reaching for a cup of tea and slowly sipping it. “Reminds me too much of our exploits in Ame. That country is strange and leaves me with bad memories.”

“Hanzo... He beat us as if we didn’t matter. He had some power we couldn’t see, couldn’t fight and couldn’t stop.”

Getting up Orochimaru walked to the window and looked down, trying to see the street down below. A street that was probably slowly turning into a roaring stream while they sat in the comfortable room in one of the dozens of the skyscrapers built for and by the ninja of Konoha.

“Yes,” the snake sannin said and smiled. “That’s why we now do what we do. To never allow anybody, no matter their allegiance, to threaten and pose a danger to Konoha.” He looked across the canyon-like street towards the complex of several interconnected spires that housed the Academy. “Their training, their augments and their knowledge is what scares other into staying away from us. Each is a tool that can protect Konoha... or be its doom.”

“Each is also a human being, one that has feelings, emotions and passions like you or I. They’re more than the simple tools you and Danzo see in them. Much more.”

Orochimaru allowed himself an annoyed, impatient sigh. “Yes,” he finally admitted. “They are much more than assets in a way. But for Konoha, first and foremost they’re assets. Most of them expendable assets. They’ll be sacrificed by the commanders to protect the more valuable ones. Sixty percent will probably die by their twentieth birthday.”

“Orochimaru!”

The Snake Sannin shrugged at the outburst of Tsunade. She knew he was right and there was little she could do to change the chances of survival of the majority of the graduating class. Perhaps only fifty percent would die, or perhaps seventy. With the recently rising tensions and upcoming chunin exams the recruitment and training picked up the tempo.

“Did you see Kakashi?” he asked, changing the topic.

“I did.”

“And?” Orochimaru asked as he walked back to his desk and activated displays built into the windows. “What can you tell me about him? I’ve been studying his augments and reaction to the Sharingan for past few years and I can’t understand how do they function.”

“Sharingan is _strange_ , that’s the best way I can describe it,” Tsunade said and slowly nodded. “They all have common traits, but they also have let’s call it quirks. Itachi’s is so completely different than Shisui’s or Kakashi’s.”

“Agreed. With the Uchiha being Uchiha they won’t share with us any of their data.” Orochimaru shook his head in disgust. “They even have their own doctors and cybernetics people sworn to secrecy.”

“I’ve been trying to get more data about them during yearly physical of the cadets, but the Uchiha and Hyuuga are careful about their progeny and guard it viciously. If they could, they would have pulled them out of the Academy.”

“They can’t afford that,” Orochimaru said and frowned. “Maybe in the future. But now they need to have their children there. They know the standing orders for ANBU and don’t want to see them happen a reality.”

“Would the ANBU obey an order to exterminate both clans?”

“Minato is loved by them. They will die for him. If he tells them to exterminate the clans, they’ll do it. They’ll ask why, but if he has evidence, they’ll do it. But now he can’t afford it. Not with what the spies are reporting.”

o-0-o

Hatake Kakashi narrowed his eye as he looked ahead. Somewhere in the maze of the slums in front of him was the fugitive he was tasked to hunt down and bring back. He could feel the hate and distaste of the people around him.

“They won’t help me,” the silver-haired ninja said as he looked at the shacks and huts that were barely tolerated by the higher ups. “They will kill me given the slightest chance.”

Shifting the gear strapped to his belt he pretended to be distracted. It was a risky move and one that could hurt him badly, but he had a feeling that there was a thug. A thug that was watching him and just waiting for this moment.

A moment that a normal human perceived as a perfect moment to strike.

“Gotcha,” Kakashi murmured as his eye noticed movement several meters away. “Come closer, I won’t hurt you.”

He waited for the man to get behind him and then struck out. He turned in place, his hand going for the mouth when from the palm of the second slid out a ten inch dagger that buried itself in the chest. The bone snapped as the steel blade sunk into the vulnerable organs below before sliding out through the back.

“I expected more.”

Kakashi let the corpse drop into the water and mud before cleaning and hiding the blade. One thug down. Kami knew however many more ahead of him. He moved forward, watching for troubles. He blinked, the implant he had in place of his eye letting him see through the rain as if it wasn’t there.

“Where are you?” He murmured, jumping onto a vantage point. “You are no shinobi, yet you can avoid me. Where are you, my friend?”

Scanning his surroundings he slowly moved, watching everybody passing below and comparing them to an image floating in the corner of his eye. Nobody was even in the slightest matching his target. A worrying thing. One that suggested that the fugitive was more than a simple civilian they all assumed him to be. Troublesome like Nara love to say.

“Even very troublesome. He might slip past the guards on the walls and then he’ll be gone.” Kakashi let out an annoyed sigh and lifted the headband off the Sharingan. “Maybe you will tell me something.”

o-0-o

Naruto let out a huff, his cerulean blue eyes focused on the Hokage Rock he could see from the Academy. Being a son of the reigning Hokage was an annoyance at times. He didn’t really care about the fangirls and they could be fun. But the constant shadows in form of the ANBU following him everywhere he went were annoying and restraining.

He snorted, at least he could use the bathroom or be in his bedroom without one of them around. They were discreet and staying at distance, but he could tell they were there. When he trained, when he ate, when he was in class, when he met with his peers and friends. They were there.

“ANBU making you irritated?” Sasuke asked, making Naruto turn his head briefly to look at the Uchiha. “Or something else.”

“Not them... Well, not exactly them.” The young Namikaze shook his head. “I hate that they are everywhere I go. I wish I had some more room than this. I feel like at the Academy they could leave me alone. There are dozens of skilled ninja around, there is no need for two or four more ANBU to be there.”

“Your dad just cares about your security, Naruto,” Shikamaru said yawning quietly. “I mean, he is the Hokage. He has his enemies and we know that many can’t go after him because of reasons. Those that can’t target you, you’re easier. At least for now.”

“I know that,” Naruto said quietly as he felt some attention shift towards them. “I know that they are there for my safety. Just I want some room for myself. Room in which I can breath and do stuff without it being reported to dad.”

“Once you become a genin it will be less strict and you should have some room.”

“Maybe... or maybe not. According to dad he’s planning on making Kakashi train the team I end up on and while I like him. He is an asshole. A good kind of it, but an asshole, still.”

“Kakashi no Sharingan,” Sasuke whistled. “My clan rarely gives out Sharingan nickname. Even less likely if it’s an outsider that somehow acquired the eye through some strange means. He is good.”

“And loyal to my dad. Very loyal. When my mom was pregnant with me, it was Kakashi who guarded her.” Naruto paused, his eyes drawn to one of their instructors that seemed to be moving in their direction. “My point is that he is good and very loyal to dad. So he changes his attack dogs for more obvious and less subtle. He thinks that Kumo or Suna will try to kidnap me and see what exactly what’s hidden in my genes. And Kakashi has certain let’s call it réputation.”

“They won’t risk a kidnapping when they know they need to face him,” Shikamaru said and yawned. “Even their jonin are sane enough to know when a mission is a bad idea. One thing is run away with an infant, like they tried with Hinata few years ago. Second is try to go after you, especially without any subtlety when there is Kakashi around.”

“Wouldn’t they try to do to please their Kage’s?” Sasuke asked, making Shikamaru only snort. “What? Not everybody has your intellect.”

“They would happily do that. The thing is that Kakashi on his own is a monster. So you talk their version of ANBU at the very least trying to do it and even then he might very well kill them. And Lord Hokage might happen to feel insulted that his son was almost kidnapped and might decide to order his army, us, to march to Kumo or Suna and tell them it was a bad idea. Second issue, genins Kakashi will have with him. We all get augments before the end of the Academy and with them fully operational we are a lot less defenseless than many assume us to be.”

“Everybody uses some cybernetics or genetics to enhance their troops,” Naruto pointed out. “Not just us.”

“And not everybody has Orochimaru or Tsunade. They are ones that design most of the ones we use now. Each and every single one of which is according to my dad between five and twenty percent better than what our competition has.” Shikamaru sighed and sent an annoyed look at their instructor. “Since he won’t let me finish it like I would like to. The attack on you Naruto at best is very risky, at worst is equal to declaring a war. Nobody can’t afford another war. Not now. Not soon. Not maybe in the next decade.”

Naruto nodded, his expression sullen and sombre as they all walked into one of the classrooms and took their usual places at the back. Somehow on the way there managing to avoid the attention of the fangirls, which was a small feat, one for which Naruto was very grateful. He liked them, sometimes, just in the classroom he had different things on his mind.

“Why do you say that nobody wants a war?” Naruto asked as he sat down. “Dad mentioned tensions rising.”

“Costs and little gains,” Shikamaru said and shrugged. “Nobody will sacrifice hundreds or thousands of their warriors for few kilometers of blasted terrain or other insignificant gains. We haven’t recovered from the last war and the world isn’t in a much better state than us.” The Nara yawned and rested his head on the surface of his desk. “Wake up when he gets to some more interesting topics.”

o-0-o

The door opened, air quietly hissing as the pneumatics moved moving aside the heavy pieces of steel and glass. Orochimaru didn’t acknowledge it, his mind too drawn to the schematics and blueprints laying on his desks and displayed on the wall behind him. Nobody disturbed his peace when he was studying or designing.

Nobody.

Not even the reigning Hokage. Tho for that one individual Orochimaru was willing to ignore that rule. Irking the person that provided him with funding, resources and purpose for his experiments and was a powerful ninja was not safe nor healthy. Nor it was a good idea to insult the person that could with a single word sic his attack dogs onto him. Attack dogs Orochimaru was unsure he could stop.

Drawing his gaze away from the schematics Orochimaru looked up and smiled at the Hokage. “How can I help you, Hokage?”

Minato didn’t acknowledge this remark, the guards behind him only shifting their hands closer to the blades strapped to their back. A very vain move on their part, after all, their bodies were far more dangerous than the blades they carried. “The implants for this year graduating class,” Minato said and glanced at the pieces of cybernetics laying on the desk. “Tsunade said that they’re almost finished.”

“The hardware itself is long done,” Orochimaru said, getting up from behind his desk. “All we do is tweak the way they work with the body and how smoothly they react. ANBU as always has been willing to test them and see what are the limits they can be pushed to.”

“Good, very good.” Minato looked at Orochimaru and then at the windows behind, making the snake Sannin feel strangely uncomfortable. “There have been new developments in Suna. Someone, I don’t know who handed them over schematics for the last generation of our cybernetic gear, but someone did. Not the ones you’re working on right now, but one before it.”

“It’s problematic.” Orochimaru closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “Outside of the highest ranks of the R&D not many have access to the full schematics of all of the various things we design. I can go over the names of people that accessed the databases, but I fear we will have mostly legitimate entries.”

“I expected so much. What Shikaku suggested is make a new implant, make sure their spies take the bait...”

“And make it faulty, hazardous to life and have a tracker?” Orochimaru asked. “Or do you have something else in mind, my dear lord Hokage?”

“That should work. If you happen to come up with an idea to make it even worse for them. You have my permission to implement it. Just make sure that it’s not obvious they’re a trap for our spies.”

“It will require a bit of finesse and subtlety in designing the changes.” A frown passed across Orochimaru’s features. “There are some prototypes we didn’t put in production because of the risks associated with them. If I modified them to _fix_ the parts that are associated with risks I think I would be able to create something looking genuinely enough. At least for a long while until a good chunk of their forces has them and then they can’t do nothing about them.”

“Officially this of course didn’t happen. Danzo, nor any of my advisors other than Shikaku and Ibiki don’t know about this issue. Make sure your staff is aware of the risks they’re dealing with.” Orochimaru nodded in understanding, aware of just how dangerous this could be for Konoha and everybody involved. Especially if it became public that Konoha sabotages efforts of its theoretical ally. “With that done. Do you think Suna can catch up to our level fast enough to matter?”

“The daimyo cut down their funding is the last rumor I heard and they can’t really squeeze more money out of anybody else. It takes us around two years to design a new thing and then a year or two before we fully tweak it. After last war they were almost up to our level, but then the funding issues happened and seem worsening.”

“The reports from our friends there suggests that the Kazekage is looking for anything that can give him an edge and or allies to win a major war and loot somebody to fuel his research department.” Minato paused and glanced at the ANBU behind him. “I would say that for last three to four years they have been forced to limit the size of their projects and spend the money on the most crucial ones.”

“So they might be less behind than we assume they are,” Orochimaru said and seeing the Hokage frown rolled his eyes. “What I mean is that certain aspects will be on par with the technology we have, while the rest will be inferior. However I can’t tell much until I get a chance to inspect one of their ANBU.”

“Itachi was sent by me to Kaze no Kuni just for that purpose. He sent a message yesterday that he acquired the target and will be in Konoha by tomorrow evening.”

“Perfect.”

Minato smiled and walking out looked at Orochimaru. “How soon can I expect a report?”

“Probably in a week or two. Depending on how sophisticated are their countermeasures in the implants.”

o-0-o

Naruto yawned as he looked at the map showing the Five Great Nations and their constellations of lesser satellites. He saw that map hundreds of times and he didn’t know why they were shown it by Iruka one more time.

“Is it that boring?” Sasuke asked in a whisper, making Naruto roll his eyes.

“No, just let’s say that I saw this map way too many times at home. I don’t know what more can be learned from it. Well, outside of the locations of the nations and such.”

Iruka’s huff was too loud to miss, making all of them look in his direction. “Naruto, tell me then what’s the reason for the recent tensions between us, Konoha, and our closest ally, Suna?”

“Resources, funding and River country.” Naruto smirked. “Since the last war the ruler of said country is our puppet. Kazekage tries to change that, but lacks the funding we have.”

“More or less correct,” Iruka said and smiled. “Well done, Naruto. Tell me, do you know what caused the decrease of funding?”

“The daimyo and cities of Wind country think it’s better to pay us or Iwa for help, than to support Suna. The Kazekage has been known for erratic behavior, one that worsened according to what I heard. So they are looking for a safe haven for their money, safe haven that can help them in need.”

“How does that make them want to go to war with us?” Sakura asked and everybody looked at her. “Wouldn’t it be easier for them to replace the Kage?”

“As if replacing the Kage was as easy and simple as it seems to be,” Iruka said and Naruto allowed himself a smirk. He knew well what Iruka meant and he had an idea of how much effort was put in protecting the ruling Kage. “With that option excluded Suna needs a way to look more powerful, which means wars. Wars, conflicts and such to show that they matter and can flex their muscles getting back the clients.”

“And we seem as a weaker target that Iwa with their raw brute strength,” Shikamaru said and yawned, barely looking up from his desk. “Suna assumes that we are a weaker target for reasons unknown and there is no point in stopping them. Those tensions have been growing for a lot longer than many acknowledge. Dad mentioned it started after second war. Just the third war made them irrelevant.”

“Shikaku has every reason to know about them,” Iruka said, making everybody look at Shikamaru. “Advisor to the Hokage and one of the senior commanders of our forces. Yes, those are primary reasons. We’re allied to them, at least for now. But that alliance might not last very long and soon you might be forced to fight against our current allies.”

“Would they break the alliance and attack us without any reason?” Sakura asked. “What taught me in school before the Academy was that the alliances last for generations.”

“Lies and propaganda.” Iruka shrugged and looked at her. “Not everybody becomes a shinobi, not everybody needs to know that bit of data. Most people doesn’t need to know it so we tell them tale of alliances being supposed to be long and hard to break. Embellishing the story a bit to make it more believable.”

“But?”

“Data is precious and the less people have access to it, the smaller chance that someone unauthorized gets access to it. It’s not the most honest behavior, but it protects the interest of Konoha and when we reveal this little fact at the end of your schooling. We have an opportunity to tell you that data is precious and should be protected. Often, even at the cost of our lives and much more. However, you don’t have the clearance to know the actual procedures and ways we protect data.”

“When are we going to learn it?” Shikamaru asked. “Or at least when are we supposed to learn it?”

“Your jonin-sensei is supposed to explain it to you. But some don’t, so at the latest, once you become chunin. Generally once you become genin, you’ll start to learn it as you do missions and gain experience. Speaking about becoming genin, your final examination is coming soon.”

Iruka changed content of the display behind him and Naruto narrowed his eyes reading the displayed information. He heard rumors and gossips from dad, just never had a chance to see all the data about the exam. “Huh.”

“The exam is divided into three parts,” Iruka said. “First part is written exam with a variety of tasks related to the material covered in class. You can expect questions from any module we covered during past three years. If you fail more than half of the questions, you’ll be barred from advancing onto the second part. Physical exam, content of which will be revealed to those that passed written part. Those that don’t meet the minimum required of you will be barred from advancing to stage three. Stage three as it has been the tradition for several years is classified and you’ll learn of it after second exam.”

“When do we have them?”

“On the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow you have time to be with your families, relax and prepare for it. Be here at four thirty, exam starts at five.”

“In the afternoon?” Sakura asked, hopeful tone to her voice.

“No, in the morning,” Iruka said and walked out of the class. “You’re free. Enjoy your time.”

“That bastard,” Shikamaru muttered. “Five is cruel. I don’t think any other exam starts so early.”

“Don’t the jonin have their exams start at like midnight?” Naruto frowned. “I heard that ANBU has it at other similarly hellish hour.”

“Naruto...”

“I get that, you’ll strangle me.”

“Yes, so shut the fuck up and let me get some rest before it.”

o-0-o

The Sharingan was a powerful tool, Kakashi mused as he hurled himself down, towards the fugitive he finally noticed. Landing on one of the roofs and almost immediately propelling himself into the air he managed to get so much closer.

He just needed to get within striking distance.

Leaping over a support beam of one of the buildings Kakashi pulled out a kunai and hurled it at the moving form of the fugitive. Only for it to explode into a cloud of smoke.

“Kuso!”

If not for Kakashi’s skill and training and experience he would have been dead when the fugitive appeared behind him. A blade hurling itself towards jonin’s neck. Moving in the air Kakashi caught the blade, in his second hand a kunai. “I’m more than you assume me to be.”

“I noticed,” Kakashi commented, breaking the blade with his hand as he drove the kunai into the neck of the fugitive. “But now, it’s over.”

The man smiled, blood running down his body from where the kunai pierced the skin and the the artery below. “For now, the roots of the tree are everywhere and one day they’ll become its leaves.”

o-0-o

A day of studying and a way too short, not even full night of sleep Naruto groggily looked around the classroom. There was a lot less of them in this one than usually. Just five more of his fellow cadets and one of their instructors.

“Any of you tries to cheat, everybody gets thrown out of the room for half an hour. There are fifty questions for you to solve. You have six hours for solving the test. If you cheat and get thrown out. The timer is still ticking. You won’t get back the time.”

Naruto gulped and looked at the thick stack of papers in front of him. He knew he had the knowledge. The issue was make his mind work and provide him with what he needed. A thing that was relatively easy if he was wide awake and able to focus.

Not as simple of a feat when he was barely functioning and unable to focus on much more than sleep. Yet he knew that he needed to stay awake, focus on the test and be done with this bullshit so that he could become a shinobi of Konoha.

“You can start... now.”

Naruto looked at the first question and let out a subdued groan. He should have been listening to what Kakashi had told him about the encryption and code breaking. He felt like the copycat was now laughing at him. It wasn’t a very sophisticated code, nor a hard one and he was pretty sure he cracked the cipher before.

Closing his eyes he tried to force his memory to work for once when his mind was in the stats of nap. Smiling Naruto opened his eyes and started to write letter after letter. The cipher now seemed simple and not very complicated. It felt to him as if he could read it now almost without the need to write it in the decrypted form.

“One done, forty-nine more to go.”

o-0-o

“He is good,” Shikaku commented, watching the classrooms from a room hidden deep below the Academy. “Not many can deal with simple ciphers so quickly.”

“Who?” Inoichi asked.

“Naruto,” Shikaku said and sent a look at the door and the pair of silent chunin there. “Since Minato isn’t here, we can be less subtle.”

“He isn’t and he said he won’t come here,” Inoichi said as he poured himself tea and sipped slowly the hot beverage. “That runaway killed by Kakashi is very strange. Sounds a lot like our friend.”

“I concur, as troublesome it is, I concur.” Shikaku frowned, his eyebrows forming almost a perfect letter V. “Going back to the cadets. Quite a few seem to be doing well and cheat somewhat subtly. I expected few to be kicked out, yet so far none happened.”

“They’re tired, scared and freaked out. All three of the factors make for an interesting behavior. I don’t think they’ll dare to cheat more obviously for an hour or two.” Inoichi closed his eyes and loudly exhaled, making Shikaku look at him. “I think we can by now tell who will pass it and who will fail.”

“Yes, at least this part. The physical exams and what Ibiki has in store might break some we think should pass. But like I think seventy percent of those we think will pass, will also pass the rest.”

“Sixty-five percent, I think seventy is a bit too high. But you are right, most of them that passes this, can pass the rest. Unless Inoichi and Anko can prepare something to freak them out.”

“Ibiki and Anko?” Shikaku arched an eyebrow. “I assumed she would have remained at the side of Orochimaru and help him with digging data out of the corpse brought by Kakashi.”

“They didn’t find much useful. At least that’s what Orochimaru said after he examined it. Apparently the guy was a random thug given basic training and some fancy implants.” Inocihi shrugged. “It sounds like bullshit and it is bullshit. Just we’re unsure who exactly is the one that hired him. Until then.”

“ANBU business that only ANBU knows about,” Shikaku said with a sigh. “And even here it isn’t safe enough to talk about it. I wonder where it is safe enough, outside of the maze that makes the HQ of ANBU.”

Inoichi didn’t comment about it and instead focused on the feed from the cameras. “Teams this year will be at best a mild headache to organize,” he said and paused, as if unsure if he said it right. “Well, ones that matter more than the random civilian and shinobi kids that aren’t that good. Heirs of almost every single major clan or their close family.”

“And Naruto. Who already catches attention even when he has ANBU around him. Just to keep attention away.”

“Lord Hokage plays cards close to his chest about them and the ideas he has for making them, way too close even for my comfort.” Shikaku winced as the way too hot tea hit his tongue and burned it. “I know he plans to drag away both Itachi and Kakashi from ANBU duties, but why or what they’re supposed to do? Nobody can tell.”

“Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata will need powerful jonin,” Inoichi said slowly. “We know Kumo almost kidnapped her once. They might do it once more. Sasuke is too important to be left without a string jonin and Naruto could be a way to pressure Hokage into submission.”

“And combining them into a team would be too high of a risk to any gains.” Shikaku nodded slowly, his brain finally seeing why the Hokage wanted those two jonin freed up. “Itachi and Kakashi will probably each get one of the two to protect and Hyuuga will probably go to espionage team where she can disappear for few months or years.”

o-0-o

Tsunade looked at the corpse laying on the table, then at her former teammate standing over it and then at her another teammate standing by the window and contemplating the world. She didn’t know what exactly happened, but the fact that both Jiraiya and Orochimaru were civil towards each other was a bad sign.

“What’s so special about him?” she asked, stalking towards the corpse and the cybernetics that were ripped out of it with little grace and care. “He looks like a normal ninja. Not some ANBU or similar thing.”

“We also assumed that,” Jiraiya said after few seconds of heavy, uncomfortable silence. “He was brought by Kakashi and official report is in-line with what you said. There is something strange about him and so far two of us found exactly nothing.”

“Any idea on whose payroll he was?”

Tsunade took the eye implant and frowned as she looked at the composites and metals that made it. The shape and looks were strangely similar and the connections to chakra network felt like her own design. Pausing for a second she looked at the body, looking for any obvious signs of allegiance and marks suggesting the village. There was nothing distinctly not similar to Konoha which made her frown.

“Looks like one of ours,” Orochimaru commented. “Yet he doesn’t match any known shinobi from our databases.” Tsunade frowned and the Snake Sannin smiled. “Yes, I also happened to check ANBU ones. There is nothing like him there.”

“He looks like one of ours, implants look like ours too. But we know some of our friends don’t have qualms about ripping implants out of one shinobi and implanting into another. Jiraiya, your ideas?” She asked, eyeing the last member of their famous or infamous trio.

“If I was a betting man, I would say that our friend, Danzo, is behind this. This fits his style of working and he is brave and stupid at times.” Tsunade snorted at this. “He acts without any regard for what Hokage or I try to achieve and seems keen on supplying gear to everybody that can buy it.”

“Danzo? He was many things, suicidal was not on the list.”

“He is daring at times.”

Nodding Tsunade looked at the corpse and then at Jiraiya. “Go and check the Archive. I think I and Orochimaru need to take a better look at our friend here. Maybe we can find something if we do it together and try to look for less obvious things.”

**Author's Note:**

> The world is harsh and unforgiving with civilians trying to survive wars between the ninja villages. But also the villages are much harsher, they're a lot less cozy compared to how they're shown in canon and the Kage has almost absolute control over anybody and everybody inside of it.
> 
> The augments and how refined they are depends on the village, clan and even shinobi. ANBU usually have the best and the nastiest, same as the Kage. Genin get ones that can help them in a lot of situations, are versatile and easy to make, retrieve or replace because genin don't need fancy shit.


End file.
